Ch 5

When Naruto woke the next morning, the first thing he noticed was that he had fallen asleep at some point after Hinata had convinced him to let out some of his bottled up emotions. He knew that holding them in like he had wasn't healthy, but he didn't really know what else to do with them.

Anyway, now that he had finally let some of it all out, he did feel a little better. Exhausted, yes, but better.

Also apparent to him was that Hinata had cried along with him, as he could smell the difference between their tears. The feelings coursing through him at that moment were almost scary in how foreign they felt. Try as he might, he couldn't name how he felt, but warm, comfortable, and safe would have to do.

She didn't know it yet, but Hinata had just about made it to the top of his precious people list. Idly, his next thought was how Iruka would react if he knew that one of his old students was now competing with him for the title of 'Naruto's Most Precious Person.'"

Before he could finish that thought though, a strange feeling washed over him, ending up as a rather insistent presence in the back of his head. It took him a second to figure out what it was, and it set him a bit on edge once he did.

Noticing the presence growing, he quickly woke Hinata.

"Huh? Wazzit? Naruto-kun? What's wrong?" she yawned.

"I'm being summoned," he told her. "I just thought I should wake you up before I left."

"Huh? Summoned?" she replied, now at least partially awake.

"Yeah. I was told that this would probably happen, and that I shouldn't be gone for more than a day or two. See y-"

He was abruptly cut off as he vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving a very confused Hyuuga behind.

Xxxxxxxxxx

When the smoke cleared, Naruto found himself surrounded by a quartet of five tailed foxes. Looking past them, he noticed that they were in a relatively small forest clearing, but didn't have time to examine the surroundings further, as one of the foxes spoke.

"Uzumaki Naruto," it growled, the deepness of the voice implying that this one was male, "You are to go before the High Council. Do not speak until spoken to. Follow me."

Naruto quickly fell into step behind him, and noted that the other three were to either side and behind him, effectively boxing him in. In addition to their greater number of tails, Naruto also noted that they were all significantly larger than him; the top of his head not even reaching the shoulders of the smallest of them.

The next thing he noticed was a large stone wall slowly emerging through the trees, though calling it a wall didn't really do it justice. As he came up to it, he realized that he couldn't see the top or either end. The only real distinguishing feature it had was the large archway right in front of him; large enough that the Kyuubi could easily fit through it.

Naruto's escorts led him right through the arch, and down the ensuing tunnel. Emerging on the other side, the first thing he saw was Kyuubi.

They immediately locked gazes, though neither said anything. Naruto did his best to hide his nerves, but he knew that he wasn't fooling them. Kyuubi though gave away nothing, and Naruto soon had to tear his gaze away to see where he was going.

Off to his left, ne noticed several other foxes, all only slightly smaller than the Kyuubi, spread around the edge of the arena-like area he was in now.

It was this direction he was herded towards, and as soon as he was before them, the middle one spoke.

"Uzumaki Naruto, it is the understanding of this council that you are the former host to what you refer to as the bijuu Kyuubi?"

"Hai."

He wanted to say more, but the glares he was getting from the eerily silent audience convinced him not to.

"Is it also true that you are not the first of these containers?"

"I was the third."

"Who were the others?"

Naruto swallowed nervously, suddenly aware that all he had to offer on the subject was told to him by his mother in the brief chance he had to meet with her.

"The first was Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the First Hokage. The second was…was my mother, Uzumaki Kushina."

"How is it that a mere human could possibly contain one such as the Kyuubi?" another one asked.

"I don't know how the Kyuubi came to be sealed in Mito or my mother, but my seal was created by my parents, and it required my father to sacrifice his soul to the Shinigami to make it work. Beyond that I don't know."

"You conspired to keep our leader away from us for over eighty years! You should be killed!" one of the foxes off to the side yelled.

"Shut up," the Kyuubi growled. "The ones this human spawned from weren't even born yet when I was taken from here, so there's no way that is his fault. I told you all already that it was an Uchiha that was responsible. Only a fully matured set of those damnable Sharingan eyes can even hope to subvert my will. How that man managed to summon me I do not know, but as soon as he did I was trapped by his damnable eyes, and somehow rendered under his control. He then forced me to fight the First Hokage, who sealed me in his wife.

The next thing I remember was when I was sealed into the brat's mother. It was exceedingly painful. Somehow, during the time she was giving birth to this brat, the same Uchiha from before found her, ripped me out of her, and used his damnable eyes on me again, sending me on a rampage through the village nearby. The brat's father was able to hold me off long enough to prepare and seal me into him.

The intensity of the sealing rendered me unconscious for over a decade, and it wasn't until the brat began to pull on my chakra that I awoke. Even then, it was a further few years before I managed to break that Uchiha's control of me."

The council spent the next few moments digesting what the Kyuubi had just told them, leaving Naruto to stand nervously in front of them.

"Why did you recommend this boy to undergo our Sage training?" another of the elders asked.

"Because this whelp has managed to gain a measure of my respect. Despite the fact that he was raised to view me as a bloodthirsty mass of rage incarnate, he still attempted befriend me, or at least not to antagonize me needlessly.

Though I loathe the thought, this boy is half the reason I was able to throw off that damnable Uchiha's compulsions. I do not know how or why, so don't bother asking. I recommended him for our Sage training because he was unable to learn the same style as his master, due to my presence. Thus, any debt I had towards him was repayed."

Naruto was left reeling by this admission. He had helped free the Kyuubi from the masked man's control? Him? A genin who had only graduated on his teachers whim?

He was so shocked by this revelation that he missed the next few questions, and would have remained lost in thought were it not for one of his escorts stepping on his foot to get his attention.

"Huh?"

"What do you desire to do with yourself, Uzumaki Naruto?" the middle council member asked. "Though you have managed to pass the trials to becoming a sage of the kitsune, you have given up your humanity to do so. This council finds both you and the village you are from not responsible for the actions you took in regards to Kurama, so you won't be executed, but the question of your future remains. You do not have to decide at this moment, but we would like your answer soon. That is all."

That just made him more confused, and he allowed himself to be led back to the clearing he appeared in almost on autopilot, and before he knew it he was back in the bedroom he had started his day in.

AN: No, i'm not dead. yes, this is short. yes, it will be continued. no, i'm not abandoning anything. just dealing with real life stuff.

damn real life stuff.